Trustees

The Board of Trustees manages the business of The Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of our organization that funds service activities. The RI president-elect nominates the trustees, who are elected by the RI Board to four-year terms.

Read the latest Trustee decisions and minutes

• 

  Barry Rassin

  Chair 2023-24
  Trustee 2020-24
  Rotary Club of East Nassau Bahamas

  Barry Rassin is a director and former president of Doctors Hospital Health System in Nassau, Bahamas, where he retired after a 38-year career. He was the first fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in the Bahamas and was honored with the National Award of Health Hero by the Bahamas Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organization.

  A Rotarian since 1980, Rassin served as RI president in 2018-19, when he advocated for closer partnership between Rotary and Rotaract clubs and presented the measure that broadened the definition of membership in Rotary International to include Rotaract clubs at the 2019 Council on Legislation. He has served RI in many other capacities, including as RI director, Rotary Foundation trustee and vice chair, chair of both the Finance and the Shaping Rotary’s Future committees, RI training leader, and seminar trainer. In 2010, Rassin coordinated Rotary’s disaster relief efforts in Haiti after a devastating earthquake. That included supervising the completion of 105 relief and development projects throughout Haiti that were made possible by the $6.5 million raised by Rotary members worldwide. He is currently active on the Bahamas Rotary Disaster Relief Committee and working on relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Outside of Rotary, Rassin chairs Volunteer Bahamas, a national program to create a culture of volunteerism in the country. He also helped found the Haiti National Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Strategy (HANWASH), a collaborative program to bring potable water and adequate sanitation to all the citizens of Haiti. In 2018, the government of the Bahamas named him as an Officer of the Order of Distinction.

  Rassin has received the Service Above Self Award. He and his spouse, Esther, are Rotary Foundation Major Donors, Benefactors, Paul Harris Fellows, and members of the Paul Harris Society.

  Read the trustee chair's monthly message

• 

  Mark Daniel Maloney

  Chair-elect 2023-24
  Trustee 2021-25
  Rotary Club of Decatur
  Alabama, USA

  Mark Daniel Maloney is a principal in the law firm of Blackburn, Maloney and Schuppert, LLC, with a focus on taxation, estate planning, and agricultural law. He represents large farming operations in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States and has chaired the American Bar Association’s Committee on Agriculture in the Section of Taxation. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Alabama State Bar Association, the Alabama Law Institute, and is a past president of the Morgan County Bar Association.

  He has been active in Decatur’s religious community, chairing his church’s finance council and a local Catholic school board. He has also served as president of the Community Foundation of Greater Decatur, chair of Morgan County Meals on Wheels, and director of the United Way of Morgan County and the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce.

  Maloney served as RI president during 2019-2020, when he presided over the first virtual RI Convention that was organized during the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized strategies to grow Rotary. A Rotarian since 1980, he has also served as an RI director; Foundation trustee and vice chair; and aide to 2003-04 RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe. He also has participated in the Council on Legislation as chair, vice chair, parliamentarian, and trainer. He was an adviser to the 2004 Osaka Convention Committee, chaired the 2014 Sydney Convention Committee, and chaired RI’s Operations Review Committee for four terms. Prior to serving as a district governor, Maloney led a Group Study Exchange to Nigeria.

  He also served as Future Vision Committee vice chair; Foundation training institute moderator; Foundation permanent fund national adviser; member and vice chair of the Peace Centers Committee; member of the International PolioPlus Committee; and adviser to the Foundation’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Schools Target Challenge Committee.

  Maloney’s wife, Gay, is an attorney in the same law firm and a member and past president of the Rotary Club of Decatur Daybreak, Alabama, USA. Both support The Rotary Foundation as Paul Harris Fellows, Major Donors, and Bequest Society members.

• 

  Bharat S. Pandya

  Vice Chair 2023-24
  Trustee 2022-26
  Rotary Club of Borivli
  Maharashtra, India

  Bharat Pandya is a practicing general and laparoscopic surgeon. He and his wife, Madhavi, a gynecologist, own a private hospital in Mumbai. He is a fellow of the International College of Surgeons and has served on the board of the Jan Shikshan Sansthan vocational training institute, sponsored by the Indian government.

  Pandya joined Rotary in 1989 as a charter member of his club. During his year as governor of District 3140, his district contributed over $2 million to The Rotary Foundation, making it the top contributor worldwide for 2006-07. He has led numerous projects, including water and sanitation projects funded by Foundation grants that installed check dams so that villagers no longer needed to walk up to four miles per day to collect water.

  Pandya has served Rotary, as Director, RI Treasurer, regional RI membership coordinator, training leader, and member of Rotary’s Membership, Strategic Planning, Leadership Development and Convention Promotion committees and on the India PolioPlus Committee.

  He has received the Service Above Self Award, the Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, and the Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award. He and Madhavi are Level 2 Major Donors to the Foundation.

• 

  Martha Peak Helman

  Trustee 2022-26
  Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor
  Maine, USA

  Marty Helman spent her career as a writer for business executives and as a magazine editor at McGraw-Hill and the American Management Association. Later, she served as president of the Otto and Fran Walter Foundation, a nonprofit that has helped build schools in developing nations, provided scholarships for at-risk youth, and supplied humanitarian aid to Holocaust survivors, among other initiatives. The Walter Foundation partnered with The Rotary Foundation to fund the new Rotary Peace Center that will be located at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul.

  Helman and her late spouse, Frank, joined the Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor in 2003. She has served Rotary as chair of the Peace Major Gifts Initiative and on the working group to select a site for the new peace center.

  A keen fundraiser for The Rotary Foundation, Helman initiated an effort to support the Sakuji Tanaka Rotary Peace Fellowship, which raised $1 million for the Rotary Peace Centers.

  Helman is an Arch Klumph Society member, and she chooses to support Rotary as a member of the Paul Harris Society and PolioPlus Society. She and Frank were charter members of the Legacy Society of The Rotary Foundation.

• 

  Chun-Wook Hyun

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of Seoul-Hansoo, Korea

  Chun-Wook Hyun is senior partner at Seoul-based Kim & Chang, one of the largest law firms in Asia, where he has worked since 1981 as a labor and employment law expert. Born and raised in the island province of Jeju, Hyun received his law degree from Seoul National University and was admitted to the Korean Bar in 1978. He also earned a degree from Harvard Law School, was admitted to the New York Bar, and participated as a visiting lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York.

  His writing has been published in numerous books and journals, including the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. In 2007, he was named one of the top 12 professional lawyers in his field by The Chosun-Ilbo newspaper. Hyun is widely recognized as a trusted adviser to the largest and most reputable companies doing business in Korea.

  Hyun has worked as commissioner of the Seoul Labor Relations Commission, legal counsel to the Ministry of Employment and Labor of South Korea, and adjunct professor at Korea University Law School. He currently serves as director of Save the Children Korea, the Amway Korea Foundation, and United Nations Global Compact Korea. He is also an auditor of the BMW Korea Future Foundation. He has served as chair of the Korean Bar Association's Legal Aid Foundation and adviser and member of Korea's Peaceful Unification Advisory Council. Hyun received a commendation from the president of the Republic of Korea in 1997.

  A charter member of the Rotary Club of Seoul-Hansoo in 1991, Hyun has been heavily focused on membership as a mentor to younger leaders. He volunteers with his club in community service projects such as helping older people, making kimchi for people who need help with food, supporting a primary school in Tanzania, and organizing music events to raise funds for PolioPlus. "Rotary changed my life and I see how much it can change others' lives too," says Hyun. "Each of us can be a gift to the world."

  Hyun has served RI in various capacities, including as training leader, RI president's representative, and Host Organization Committee member and legal adviser to the Rotary International Convention in Seoul in 2016. He also serves as director of Rotary Foundation Korea.

  Hyun constantly seeks to embody and exemplify Rotary's core values in his daily life, and his leadership motto is "passion, innovation, and execution." As district governor, he helped increase membership and Rotary Foundation giving. He innovated a memorandum of understanding among district governors, governors-elect, and governors-nominee that fosters continuity of sustainable district goals and growth, a practice still in place in District 3640.

  Hyun supports The Rotary Foundation as a member of the Arch Klumph Society.

• 

  Jennifer Jones

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario

  Jennifer Jones believes in the power of storytelling to move the world forward.

  In her vocational life, she is the founder of a media company in Ontario that has helped countless corporations and not-for-profit organizations lead with conviction and credibility.

  Jones served as Rotary International's president in 2022-23, making her the first woman in Rotary's history to serve in this role. Her focus on inclusion and equity has helped break down barriers and has opened doors for others to see themselves authentically recognized within the organization. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland.

  Jones has strengthened Rotary's reach and impact as an ambassador of leadership. She believes in connecting those who are most vulnerable with people of purpose, people of influence, and people of action.

  Working alongside world leaders, celebrities, and international thought leaders, Jones has raised awareness and hundreds of millions of dollars to eradicate disease, elevate education, support peace, and provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

  She is the recipient of Rotary's Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. She holds a Doctor of Laws and has been recognized with the YMCA Peace Medallion and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. She is also the first Canadian to receive Wayne State University's Peacemaker Award.

  Jones is married to Nick Krayacich, a family physician. They share a love for Rotary, travel, cycling, golf, and relaxing at their family cottage, in addition to adventures such as climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

  They support The Rotary Foundation as members of the Arch Klumph Society, Paul Harris Society, and Bequest Society.

• 

  Holger Knaack

  Trustee 2022-26 
  Rotary Club of Herzogtum Lauenburg-Mölln
  Germany

  Knaack is the owner of Knaack KG, a real estate company. He was previously a partner and general manager of Knaack Enterprises, a family business founded in 1868.

  He is a founding member of the Civic Foundation of the City of Ratzeburg and the founder and chair of the Karl Adam Foundation.

  A Rotary member since 1992, Knaack has served Rotary as president, treasurer, director, moderator, member and chair of several committees, representative for the Council on Legislation, zone coordinator, training leader, and district governor.

  He was an endowment/major gifts adviser and was co-chair of the Host Organization Committee for the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg.

  Knaack and his wife, Susanne, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation and members of the Bequest Society.

• 

  Larry A. Lunsford

  Trustee 2021-25
  Rotary Club of Kansas City-Plaza
  Missouri, USA

  Larry A. Lunsford, a certified public accountant, is senior vice president and chief financial officer of Bernstein-Rein Advertising, Inc. A recipient of bachelor’s and master's degrees in accounting from Truman State University, he has served his alma mater on its National Alumni Association Board and its Foundation Board. He also served as treasurer of the Epilepsy Foundation for the Heart of America.

  His passion for Rotary and his invitation into the family of Rotary began during his college years, when in 1982, he was selected as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar to Australia. Lunsford joined Rotary in 1991. He served RI as director, and aide to RI President Mark Daniel Maloney. In addition, he has served as RI president’s representative, zone institute chair, Rotary Public Image Coordinator, Rotary Foundation alumni coordinator, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, training leader, International Assembly leaders’ seminar trainer, RI committee chair and member, and chair of the Rotary Peace Centers Committee of The Rotary Foundation.

  Lunsford and his wife, Jill are Major Donors, Benefactors, and Bequest Society members.  He is a charter member of the District 6040 Paul Harris Society. He has been awarded the Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service and the RI Service Above Self Award.

• 

  Geeta Manek

  Trustee, 2020-24
  Rotary Club of Muthaiga
  Kenya

  Geeta Manek, a second-generation Kenyan, graduated from business school in the United Kingdom before returning to Nairobi to join the family retail and property management business, which she still runs.

  Manek joined Rotary in 1997. Her roles have included Rotary coordinator, chair of the Health Major Gifts Initiative and of the Joint Committee on Partnerships, member of the Major Gifts Initiative Oversight Team and the Rotary Institute Host Organizing Committee, RI training leader, lead facilitator at the Regional Leaders Training Institute, and RI president’s representative. She was also the only female governor of District 9200 before it was divided into Districts 9211 and 9212 in 2012-13. She also served as her district’s coordinator of the Kick Polio Out of Africa Campaign.

  Manek is passionate about initiatives that help women and improve education. She was a charter member of Lohana Ladies Circle, a women’s club dedicated to community service, social welfare, and cultural heritage. She’s also helping lead a Rotary literacy initiative in Kenya and the region. Manek has volunteered as a first responder during national crises, including in post-election violence and after terrorist attacks. She has led teams of Rotarians to collaborate and coordinate initiatives with organizations such as the Red Cross, the United Nations, and community-based institutions. In recognition of her humanitarian work, Manek was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities in 2019.

  Manek has been honored with the Service Above Self Award. She and her spouse, Kaushik — who served as governor of District 9200 in 2008-09 — are Rotary Foundation Major Donors and Benefactors, as well as Bequest Society and Arch Klumph Society members.

• 

  Aziz Memon

  Trustee 2020-24
  Rotary Club of Karachi
  Pakistan

  Aziz Memon is chair of the Kings Group, a conglomerate of five companies that is one of the leading textile and ready-made garment manufacturing and exporting groups in Pakistan. He is also chair of the board of the Karachi Garment City, a project of the government of Pakistan. Memon’s other roles include honorary consul general of the Republic of Suriname in Karachi, president of the English Speaking Union of Pakistan, and president of the United Memon Jamat of Pakistan, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to community development and helping the underprivileged.

  Since he joined Rotary in 1995, he has been widely recognized for his leadership in polio eradication. Memon has served as member of the International PolioPlus Committee and chair of the Pakistan PolioPlus Committee. He has worked closely with Rotary’s partners and stakeholders, including UNICEF, WHO and its Expanded Programme on Immunization, government officials, religious scholars, celebrities, business leaders, and Rotarians from around the world. He was one of four polio eradication activists to receive the Louis Pasteur Medal by the Institut Pasteur. His other RI leadership positions have included training leader, committee member, and RI president’s representative. Memon says his favorite Rotary project was working with his club to raise over $285,000 to fund an English-language instruction school for 4,000 children.

  Memon has received the Service Above Self Award, the International and Regional Service Awards for a Polio-Free World, and The Rotary Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award and Citation for Meritorious Service. In recognition of his community and humanitarian services in the health sector, the president of Pakistan conferred the Pride of Performance Award on Memon in 2011. He and his wife, Samina, are members of the Arch Klumph Society.

• 

  Akira Miki

  Trustee 2021-25
  Rotary Club of Himeji
  Japan

  Akira Miki, a dentist with his own practice, dedicated himself to disaster recovery projects after the January 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, one of the worst earthquakes to hit Japan in the 20th century. Miki worked on building a children’s home and supported children who needed emotional care.

  Miki joined Rotary in 1981. He served on the RI Board of Directors from 2018 to 2020 and a special advisor for the Foundation Trustees in 2020-21. Previously, his leadership roles in RI have included serving as RI president’s representative, training leader, governors-elect trainer, committee member, assistant Rotary coordinator, Council on Legislation representative, and sergeant-at-arms for international conventions and assemblies. He is director of the RI Japan Youth Exchange Committee. He visited Washington, USA, as a short-term youth exchange student. He has been a strong advocate for youth development. Since 1985, he has led the district RYLA seminar, the All Japan RYLA Institute, and the All Japan Interact Institute.

  Miki is a former Interactor and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his wife, Chiharu, are members of The Arch Klumph Society, Benefactors, and Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation.

• 

  Greg E. Podd

  Trustee 2022-26
  Rotary Club of Evergreen
  Colorado, USA

  Greg is a retired certified public accountant and personal financial specialist who opened his own firm in 1979. During his career, he wrote four professional continuing education accounting and finance courses and was a keynote speaker at five national conferences. Greg has taught many courses as a guest professor in the master’s degree in taxation program at Arizona State University and has made presentations to more than 20,000 CPAs and chartered accountants worldwide. He was also president and owner of a firm that specialized in metal fabrication for the telecommunications industry and of an international health care software development firm.

  Greg joined Rotary in 1982. He has served Rotary International as vice president and director. During his time on the Board of Directors, he chaired committees including the Audit Committee and the Board Council on Legislation Advisory Committee. He also served on the Operations Review Committee and The Rotary Foundation’s Investment Committee, among others. Other roles he’s held include training leader, RI president’s representative, and representative to the Council on Legislation.

  As a Rotary Foundation major gifts adviser, Greg organized his district’s Million Dollar Dinner, which raised more than $3.1 million in one night. He enjoys applying his professional knowledge and skills to help Rotary’s club, district, and zone leaders resolve funding questions. He says, “There is an education gap out there dealing with the finances of Rotary at all levels, and I’m glad to have served as a go-to person for questions.”

  Greg has also been active in numerous local, regional, and national professional organizations, community groups, and charities, including as a treasurer and board and committee member.

  Greg has received the Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his spouse, Pam, are Major Donors and members of the Arch Klumph Society, Bequest Society, and Paul Harris Society.

• 

  Carlos Sandoval Delgado

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of San Nicolás de los Garza,
  Mexico

  Carlos Sandoval Delgado is chair of Orsan Corp., a leading company in the energy sector and the main distributor of Exxon Mobil in Mexico, with more than 270 service stations and over 3,000 employees throughout the country. He is also regional consultant of the Mexico division of BBVA, the multinational financial institution. A graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's School of Architecture, Sandoval earned his MBA from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.

  Sandoval joined Rotary in 1975. He has served RI and The Rotary Foundation as regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, member of the Fund Development and Peace Centers committees, and extraordinary donations endowment/major gifts assessor. In addition to serving as Foundation trustee, he will also serve as Community Economic Development Major Gifts Initiative adviser through 2025.

  He has participated in and led numerous projects that reflect his Rotary philosophy that "we are here to change the lives of people for the better." One project, supported by Foundation grants, helped provide bakery equipment and professional bakery training to people who recuperated from drug addictions. In honor of his late son, Carlos, he established a directed gift to The Rotary Foundation that supports community and economic development projects focused on women entrepreneurs throughout Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Sandoval is a proponent of giving to the Foundation and has hosted million-dollar dinner events three times.

  His philanthropy work outside Rotary includes establishing the Orsan Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes health initiatives among underprivileged groups and provides assistance in disaster situations. In addition, he sponsors three addiction rehabilitation centers in the Monterrey area and serves on the boards of the Monterrey branch of the Mexican Red Cross and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León Foundation. In his spare time, he enjoys watching car races and working out and running to stay in shape for his three daughters and 15 grandchildren.

  Sandoval is a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his spouse, Martha, support the Foundation as Platinum Trustees Circle members of the Arch Klumph Society.

• 

  Dennis J. Shore

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of Hawthorn,
  Australia

  Dennis J. Shore is a chartered chemical engineer with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of New South Wales. After a distinguished career as a senior executive, culminating in international business development and management for Australian Paper Manufacturers (later Amcor) in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, he established his own consulting business before retiring in 2021 to focus on Rotary.

  Shore is a fellow of the Australasian Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Association and a recipient of its Distinguished Service Award. He served in several Australian industrial advocacy groups, including as a council member of the Australian Standards Association, past director of the Australian Shareholders' Association, and member of the Business Council of Australia's Environment Committee.

  He was an inaugural director and continues as a trustee for a foundation of Monash University, Australia's largest university, which awarded him with the Sir John Monash Medal for distinguished service to engineering education.

  Shore, who joined Rotary in 1980, has served as endowment/major gifts adviser and is vice chair of Rotary Foundation Australia. He has served three times as RI president's representative and twice as Council on Legislation representative. He was a vice chair and promotions director of the Host Organization Committee for the Rotary International Convention in Melbourne in May.

  Shore's greatest passions in Rotary are supporting education and peace initiatives, part of a new world of opportunities that opened up for him after attending the 2003 RI Convention in Brisbane as club president. "The convention was like Rotary on steroids and imbued me with enthusiasm," he says. "I realized what you can do when you have a leadership opportunity in Rotary — and that you can have a 'Rotary moment' every day."

  With his club, he has supported projects ranging from scholarships and water tank installations in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a hospital in Cambodia, and mental health initiatives in Australia to the club's signature Rotary Safe Families program. Shore, who has done a lot of grassroots work to grow Rotary Foundation grants in his zone, also convened a million-dollar dinner in 2017 that raised over $3.5 million for the Foundation.

  Shore and his wife, Lynda, are Major Donors and Bequest Society members. He is a member of the District 9800 Paul Harris Society and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award and the Citation for Meritorious Service.

• 

  John Hewko

  General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer
  Rotary Club of Kyiv
  Ukraine

  John Hewko is the general secretary and chief executive officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. From 2004 to 2009, Hewko was vice president for operations and compact development for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world’s poorest countries.

  Read General Secretary Hewko’s full biography.

  Follow @johnhewko on Twitter. Visit John Hewko on Facebook.

2023-24 Trustee Committees

Executive Committee

Acts on behalf of the Trustees according to established policy, advises the Trustees with respect to governance and other significant issues, and reviews recommendations for report to the Trustees from the following committees: Investment Committee, Fund Development Committee, Programs Committee, Stewardship Committee, and TRF Finance Committee.

Chair

Larry A. Lunsford

Members

Barry Rassin
Bharat Pandya
Mark Daniel Maloney
Geeta K. Manek
Martha Peak Helman
Holger Knaack

Participant Experience

Reviews recommendations for report to the Trustees from the following committees: Joint Learning, Joint Communications, Joint Technology, Peace Centers Committees, and Joint DEI Task Force.

Chair

Larry A. Lunsford

Vice Chair

Frederick Lin

Members

Martha Peak Helman
Aziz Memon
Carlos Sandoval

Foundation Finance Committee

Advises the Trustees with respect to all finances of the Foundation, including the annual review and recommendations on the budget and the five-year forecast.

Chair

Greg Podd

Vice Chair

Larry A. Lunsford

Members

Bharat Pandya
Frederick Lin
Dennis Shore

Foundation Programs Committee

Advises the Trustees with respect to the operation and effectiveness of The Rotary Foundation programs.

Chair

Holger Knaack

Vice Chair

Chun-Wook Hyun

Members

Basker Chockalingam
Carolyn Schrader
Mark Maloney
Ijeoma Peark Okoro
Alberto Cecchini

Stewardship Committee

Advises the Trustees and General Secretary with respect to matters of stewardship, compliance, and oversight of grants, fundraising, and recognition.

Chair

Geeta K. Manek

Vice Chair

Holger Knaack

Members

Bharat Pandya
Carlos Sandoval
Jennifer Jones

See the Rotary Foundation Committees